Two Trenton men are charged with kicking down apartment door in Hamilton, stealing electronics

Desean Howard, left and Edward Thorpe, right, two Trenton men arrested today following an armed burglary in Hamilton.Hamilton Police

HAMILTON – Two Trenton men were chased down and arrested this afternoon after they kicked down the door of a township apartment and tried to make off with electronics, police said.

Edward S. Thorpe, 21, and Desean D. Howard, 24, were arrested immediately following the break-in to an apartment on Rex Court just before 12:15 p.m., police said in a news release.

It was unclear whether anyone was home at the apartment, but Thorpe and Howard were both face a robbery charge, which would indicate they encountered someone during the alleged crime.

Thorpe and Howard’s attempted escape route led them around the back of the Hamilton Fire Company.

“That’s when we saw them running into the parking lot,” fire Capt. Mike Serben said.

A plainclothes police officer caught one man at the corner of East State Street and Roberts Avenue, he said. Serben saw the second man on nearby Adelia Avenue and pointed him out to police. The man was arrested after a brief struggle with an officer, Serben said.

Thorpe was charged with robbery, burglary, weapons offenses, aggravated assault on a police officer and resisting arrest and is being held on $350,000.00 cash bail. Howard was charged with robbery and burglary, and is also being held in Hamilton police lockup on $300,000 bail.

Serben said the men dropped stolen electronics outside the firehouse while trying to flee.